Job 4:2

Job 4:2 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?
• New International Version (NIV)“If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? But who can keep from speaking?
• English Standard Version (ESV)"If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking?
• New King James Version (NKJV)“If one attempts a word with you, will you become weary? But who can withhold himself from speaking?

Context of Job 4:2

1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking? 3Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. 4Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.

Job 4:2 word by word

הֲנִסָּ֬ה דָבָ֣ר אֵלֶ֣יךָ תִּלְאֶ֑ה וַעְצֹ֥ר בְּ֝מִלִּ֗ין מִ֣י יוּכָֽל׃Read the interlinear

• we assayנָסָהnâsâh · to test: tryH5254
• to communeדָּבָרdâbâr · wordH1697
• with thee, wilt thou be grievedלָאָהlâ'âh · be wearyH3811
• but who canיָכֹלyâkôl yâkôl · be ableH3201
• withholdעָצַר‛âtsar · to restrainH6113
• himself from speakingמִלָּהmillâh milleh · speechH4405

Cross-references for Job 4:2

• 2 Corinthians 2:4For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.
• 2 Corinthians 7:8For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.
• Job 32:18For I am full of matter, the spirit within me constraineth me.
• Jeremiah 6:11Therefore I am full of the fury of Yhwh; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days.
• Jeremiah 20:9Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
• Acts 4:20For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

Commentaries on Job 4:2

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 2If we assay to commune with thee - As if he had said, Should I and my friends endeavor to reason with thee ever so mildly, because we shall have many things to say by way of reprehension, thou wilt be grieved and faint; and this we may reasonably infer from the manner in which thou bearest thy present afflictions. Yet as thou hast uttered words which are injurious to thy Maker, who can forbear speaking? It is our duty to rise up on the part of God, though…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 2If we assay to commune with thee - Margin, A word. Hebrew - הנסה דבר dâbâr hanı̂câh “May we attempt a word with thee?” This is a gentle and polite apology at the beginning of his speech - an inquiry whether he would take it as unkind if one should adventure on a remark in the way of argument. Jahn, in characterizing the part which Job‘s three friends respectively take in the controversy, says: “Eliphaz is superior to the others in discernment and…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-2Eliphaz the Temanite was probably the oldest and most important of Job’s friends (see study note on 2:11). His speeches are longer and more detailed than the others. who can keep from speaking?: Eliphaz imitated how urgent a message from prophets can be (4:12–16; see Jeremiah 20:9; Amos 3:8).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 22. If we assay to commune--Rather, two questions, "May we attempt a word with thee? Wilt thou be grieved at it?" Even pious friends often count that only a touch which we feel as a wound.Read the comment

In the dictionaries

• Clay
• Crush
• Prey
• Assay
• Eliphaz (2)
• Grief; Grieve
• Poetry, Hebrew
• Eliphaz

Commentaries on Job 4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings